


Untouchable

by orphan_account



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions, Pokemon Omega Ruby
Genre: Ageism, Community: LiteraryFanFiction, Delta Episode Spoilers, Disease, Drama, Emotional Trauma, Gen, Guilt, Illness, Quarantine, Racism, Xenophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-21
Updated: 2015-01-21
Packaged: 2018-03-08 12:59:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3210068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brendan is looking for a safe space to socialize his newest Pokemon, and Maxie certainly owes him one. Of course, that begs the question of what exactly makes a space safe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Untouchable

It is difficult to accept weakness in the strong. There is no act more infuriating than watching one stronger than oneself succumb to another. It is an affront to one's own ego, and it complicates the instinctive desire to emulate the victor. This is not a rational response. Just as a strong Pokemon can fall to a weak one with the right advantages, so a strong young man can fall to a simple creature who caters to his needs.

I do not know what it is, exactly, that has enchanted Brendan with this creature, although I can make some guesses. We made discreet inquiries into his background when he was still our enemy, and they revealed history likely as not to result in certain predictable behaviors. While this is not one of them, if I squint, I can perhaps see the same motivations for a more altruistic act. Certainly, Brendan has been through far too much for a child his age, which is in no small part my fault, and this is the inevitable consequence of how we have broken him.

I have no idea why he has come to us for help and protection, given that not so long ago we were enemies. I have no idea why he sits on my couch now, stroking a tentacled mass beside him and telling it that I am its friend. I am not its friend. Were it up to me, the creature would be contained in a sterile environment until its intentions toward us and the physical safety of its presence could be assured—and that was before he told me what Cozmo told him.

But this is Brendan's struggle, and we owe him besides.

“You understand my concerns about loosing a creature of alien biology who nearly caused an extinction event into our facility?” I ask.

The creature looks down into its lap, coiling its mass of tentacles around each other. Brendan's eyebrows contract as he nods.

“That's part of why I went to you, instead of, I don't know, putting him in a Cleverness Contest.” Brendan rubs the creature's shoulder. “You said you'd do whatever it took to start making things right. If I'm wrong, we can keep whatever happens to your base. But if I'm right... we can show Deoxys... we can show Prometheus... that humans aren't so bad. And he thinks we are. I've seen it, the difference in how he treated my Pokemon and me at first.”

The creature slumps even further, nodding its finned head.

Super-effective, as always. The boy drives a hard bargain, wielding my own guilt like a scalpel. And still I wonder what need in him this creature plays as if it were an instrument. Then again, what need is there in Brendan that we did not amplify, or even create? Deoxys did not break him first; we did.

“Any sign of illness from either of you should be reported to Tabitha immediately.” I look to Prometheus and force a smile.


End file.
